33rd Buenos Aires International Book Fair

 

33rd Buenos Aires International Book Fair (Year 2007)

Today, Monday, April 30, 2007, I visited the 33rd Buenos Aires International Book Fair. It is taking place from April 17 to May 8, 2007, at the La Rural fairgrounds (Av. Sarmiento 2704, Plaza Italia, City of Buenos Aires). This year's slogan is Books Make History. I have been visiting this exhibition almost uninterruptedly for about seven or eight years. Formerly, the fair took place at a venue called the Exhibition and Convention Center, near the Faculty of Law. Student admission, as every year. A lot of people visiting it. There were long waiting lines, about half an hour before opening. Meanwhile, as you walked through it, you could notice the small number of offers compared to previous years and book prices, in general, quite high. Nevertheless, it seemed that visitors could afford the costs without major problems; perhaps the possibility of having so many publishing houses together in one place and being able to acquire certain books easily compensated for the high costs—at least they were high from my perspective, considering the prices in bookstores and fairs around the city. The fair's website is http://www.el-libro.org.ar/

Many exhibitor stands, mostly from publishing houses. As for the venue at La Rural, this time they expanded it compared to other years. What used to be the common entrance on Sarmiento Street in previous years, although still there, was moved to the other end, so they opened two entry doors. Both sectors are connected by a closed hallway featuring advertisements and oversized posters with quotes, although you can also walk outside that pathway.

Upon entering, we encountered a large pavilion with few stands that generally belonged to companies rather than books, except for isolated cases. Then, the tunnel I already mentioned—covered in plastic sheeting and a red carpet—led us to the Fair itself. Entering the actual book section, we first encountered two large stands from Argentina's two most important newspapers, and after that, we entered the heart of the Fair.

There were many exhibitors, and I also noticed that they expanded the number of places to grab a drink and/or a bite to eat, not only inside, but also in the area separating the Fair from the exit, where they had installed food stalls.

This time I didn't thoroughly walk through all the stalls stopping at each one, as it was impossible due to the huge crowd and crowding making it difficult—even though it was a weekday, I don't even want to imagine what the weekends must have been like. A huge number of students, which is a good thing, though unfortunately in my opinion, all coming from the major metropolitan area and surroundings. The interior of the country hardly gets these kinds of opportunities; I'm not saying they wouldn't come here to visit, but certainly not en masse, even if it's just to bring students closer to books—whatever book it may be, it doesn't matter which one, the point is to read. Some publishers managed to attract students with age-appropriate books, posters, mascots/figures, etc. Computers and tech were increasingly present and noticeable, with many screens seen everywhere for the visiting public. The stands that add a colorful note offer trinkets rather than books—knick-knacks might not be the exact word, but they move away from books to sell souvenirs, ornaments, and similar items. I didn't find the book I was looking for, but I brought home two others; I imagine I must be one of the few people who don't get bored reading chronicles and similar texts. The two I bought on this occasion are about travel stories and travelogue chronicles.

There was a noticeable increase in representatives from other nations. Previously, you would always see the same ones, no more than three or four, usually from the communities with the most "presence" in Argentina, so to speak—I don't know if that's the right phrasing. A medium-sized stand compared to the rest represented the European Union, a novelty since it wasn't there before, and inside it several nations were represented, although when I passed by, more than half of the staff were missing.

I cut out a small section of the drawing on the flyer given to me at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair. Precisely because of the small figures representing various communities dressed in traditional costumes—a very simple drawing, but one that allows any flyer reader to distinguish each group of people and easily identify them with another country, showing diversity. It's true that this caught my attention this year; in previous years you didn't see so many stands representing multiple nations, at least in my view, and it was a detail that stood out during my observation. Looking at the statistics on the website http://www.el-libro.org.ar/fel/la-feria-internacional.html, this fair had the highest number of participating countries. The image was no coincidence. I only wanted to make this comment here, but checking my email inboxes, in one of the groups I am subscribed to and from which I receive newsletters, advertising arrived for two other International Book Fairs held in two other countries, and there I found a connection to this topic of national diversity: one held in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, and the other held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. So I will also upload screenshots of those emails.

Every day of the fair, throughout the day, roughly every hour and a half, events, talks, book signings, presentations, etc., take place. During one of these talks, a commotion broke out—shouting and various noises coming from one of the rooms where a talk was taking place. At that moment I didn't know what it was about and continued on my way. That night, watching a TV news broadcast, it turned out that people had booed the presence and participation of a speaker.

Some stands drew attention in their own way. Two examples are the two following photos of stalls that decided to place figures/mascots: the first, what looks like a monk at the Editorial Sudamericana stand, possibly related to a young adult book. The other photo, I don't recall which stall it was at, but almost certainly one from the northern provinces, featuring a figure in traditional clothing.

And to conclude the commentary on this visit, the image belongs to a flyer on Health topics handed out by the Government at the entrance of the Book Fair, a promotion campaign aimed at youth.